Our most recent week of Kakuro puzzles is in this PDF.

For the second time, we are featuring a special variety mix week from several of the Japanese authors who make the Toketa book series (link to PDF from 2017’s Toketa week). We will have three different variations — primarily new puzzle styles from the most recent volume — with two puzzles each over the week. Toketa Volume 6 came out at the end of last year, and played its own special role in my winning the World Puzzle Championship (link to my long report).

Our supporters will also be receiving a bonus Battlestar by Grant Fikes and a Snake Pit by Serkan Yürekli who also contributes to Toketa, access to puzzle solutions, and a video walkthrough of the Friday and Saturday puzzles. Last weekend, our grandmaster supporters also received three large bonus puzzles: a Kakuro by Hatice Esra Aydemir, a Tapa LITS Distiller by Grant Fikes, and a Crisscross by Grant Fikes. If you want to become a subscriber and get access to bonus puzzles, solutions, e-books, and other rewards, check out this page.

17/12/02 – Tapa (Different)
17/10/07 – Snake Pit X
17/09/13 – Cross the Streams (LITS)
17/09/02 – Pentominous (Borders)
17/08/19 – Killer Sudoku
17/08/05 – Double Kakuro
17/07/22 – Tapa (Hex)
17/06/28-29 – Spiral Galaxies + 2x
17/06/15 – Nurikabe (Yajisan-Kazusan)
17/06/01 – Pentosnake
17/05/12 – Castle Wall (Hex)
17/04/12+15 – Double Yajilin
17/03/25 – Starship Battle
17/03/11 – Tapa (Visionary)
17/03/04 – Fillomino (Symmetry)
17/02/10 – Cave
17/01/27 – Masyu or Balance Loop?
17/01/13 – Pata
16/12/10 – Fillomino (Kropki)
16/11/12 – Statue Park
16/11/05 – Minesweeper (Even Rows/Columns)
16/10/23 and 16/10/21 – Tight Fit Sudoku (Classic and Killer)
16/10/08 – Roller Coaster
16/09/30 – Pentominous (Star Battle)
16/09/17 – Japanese+Latin Sums
16/09/10 – Fillomino (Symmetry)
16/08/27 – Castle Wall
16/08/17 – Gapped Kakuro
16/08/06 – Slitherlink (Large-Square)
16/07/29 – Yajilin
16/07/22 – Canal View
16/07/09 – Thermo-Sudoku
16/07/01 – Masyu (Regional)
16/06/10 – Star Battle (Small Regions)
16/05/13 – Yajilin (Transparent)
16/04/28 – Cross the Streams (Windows)
16/04/16 – Range
16/04/10 – Killer Sudoku
16/03/17 – Ripple Effect
16/03/12 – Slitherlink
16/02/27 – Arrow Sudoku
16/02/18 – Kurotto
16/02/13 – Double Kakuro
15/04/02 – Snake Egg
15/03/26 – Fillomino (Symmetry)
15/03/21 – Skyscrapers
15/03/14 – 2D Top Heavy Number Place
15/03/05 – Yajilin
15/03/01 – Star Battle (bonus)
15/02/22 – Skyscrapers (bonus)
15/02/13 – Balance Loop
15/02/07 – Kakuro (Hex)
15/01/31 – Even/Odd Sudoku
15/01/24 – TomTom
15/01/16 – Unique Clues Tapa
15/01/10 – Battleships
14/12/26 – Pentopia
14/12/17 – Battleships
14/12/13 – Cross the Streams (LITS)
14/12/05 – Cipher Fillomino
14/11/28 – Prime Cave
14/11/22 – Cipher Pentominous
14/11/15 – Castle Wall
14/11/08 – LITS
14/10/31 – Jack-O’-Lantern Thermo Sudoku
14/10/24 – TomTom
14/10/17 – RoundTrip
14/10/04 – Pentomino
14/09/27 – Tapa
14/09/18 – Pentominous
14/09/12 – Sudoku
14/09/06 – Tapa-Like Loop
14/08/28 – Pentominous
14/08/23 – Killer Sudoku
14/08/15 – Kuromasu
14/08/08 – Sum Skyscrapers
14/08/02 – Repeated Neighbors Sudoku
14/07/24 – Nanro
14/07/12 – Nurikabe
14/07/04 and 14/07/06 – Star Battle
14/06/24 and 14/06/27 – Cross the Streams (B&W Partially Inverted and Pentominoes)
14/06/09 and 14/06/21 – Word Nurikabe and Cipher TomTom from IPC
14/06/13 – Transparent Tapa
14/05/31 – Slitherlink (Portal)
14/05/22 – LITS
14/05/08-09 – Araf
14/05/03 – Heavy Dots
14/04/19 – Ripple Effect
14/04/12 – Checkered Fillomino
14/04/05 – Audio Cross the Streams
14/03/28 – Outside Nurikabe
14/03/21 – Sudoku
14/03/07 – Slitherlink (Sheep and Wolves)
14/02/27 – Cave
14/02/14 – Fillomino

Our most recent variety mix from six of our puzzlemasters can be found in this PDF.

This next week we are celebrating the last days of SUM-mer with six different puzzle styles focused on addition.

Monday: Hundred by Thomas Snyder
Tuesday: TomTom by Thomas Snyder
Wednesday: Magic Summer by Serkan Yürekli
Thursday: Skyscrapers (Sums) by Thomas Snyder
Friday: Kakuro by Serkan Yürekli
Saturday: Japanese+Latin Sums by Serkan Yürekli

Our supporters will also be receiving a bonus Kurotto from Prasanna Seshadri, access to puzzle solutions, and a video walkthrough of the Saturday puzzle. If you’d like to receive some of these special rewards, please click here for more info.

Rules: Enter a single digit from 1 to 9 into each white cell so that the sum of digits in each Across entry equals the value given to the left of the entry, and the sum of digits in each Down entry equals the value given above the entry. No digit may be repeated within a single entry (i.e., group of cells connected horizontally or vertically without any black cells between).

Answer String: Enter the values in each white cell in the marked rows from left to right, separating the rows with a comma. Ignore black cells. This example has the key “1317,329678”.

(Brief) History of Kakuro: Descended from arithmetic puzzles and from crosswords. The puzzle was created around 1950 by Canadian Jacob E. Funk under the name “Cross Sums” and gained popularity in Dell puzzle magazines. Like its counterpart “Number Place”, now known as Sudoku, Cross Sums was brought back to Japan and became more famous under its foreign name. Kakuro is an abbreviation of the Japanese phrase Kasan Kurosu (加算クロス, meaning addition cross).

History of this example: This Kakuro was written by Thomas Snyder.

Sources for Kakuro Puzzles: Follow this link for classic Kakuro puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Kakuro puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Kakuro puzzles to get started on. More Kakuro puzzles can be found in Kakuro and Variations by Serkan Yürekli and in The Art of Puzzles 2.

Design rules for contributors: A Grandmaster Kakuro will have a unique solution that can be reached by logic alone. Generally, a Grandmaster Kakuro should have a symmetric layout of black cells or an interesting visual theme in the absence of symmetry. Not all clues need to be given, and single digit entries are rarely present and never clued. Sizes from 9×9 and above are recommended (maximum aspect ratio of 2:1 if rectangular).